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D

D-Man

100 kW
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
1,557
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Wow. Was that exciting. I've been laughing for the last hour. I'll finish this tomorrow. That damn plywood cost more then the fairing!
 
My late father made road racing fairings in the mid 70's before moving to the tailored made leathers business...he hads a machine that blew pretty much exact bubbles like you have made there, he also made the machine, used old electric radiator coils to heat the plexi then 'blew' it with compressed always had dozens of them laying in the workshop ready to be cut to shape for the fiberglass fairings he made...

Awesome work on yours i hope it turns out as well as you anticipate, sure looks like its on the right track!

KiM
 
SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

What process exactly did you use to make that?

I want to do similar with black ABS!! :twisted:
 
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very cool,
I got a chance to visit Zzipper back in the 90's,
and used their small bubble fairing on my road bike for a short while (it hooks on to the brake hood)
also had another one (forgot the brand) a fiberglass cone with clear shield which I modified to mount to the head tube.
I eventually gave up on that one.

it was good for cold protection in the morning...
 
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I am not quite envisioning your fairing...like the zz thriller? got a sketch..?

I don't remember any significant speed increase.

the zzipper was ok.. small and light.. (I borrowed it from a friend of mine)
I don't see them selling it on zzipper.com
the new ones look bigger...(OS ZZ)
http://www.zzipper.com/Products/prod_upright.php

the original one
http://www.bikecult.com/works/collections/vdsRW.html


the second one I mentioned (not by zzipper) feels too big and heavy when attached to the handle bar.
I made a pvc mount to attach to the head tube.
too weak and bouncy... (annoy sound from fairing also)
didn't want to pay someone to make an aluminum mount.
gave up on it...

some other ones..
http://thenewcaferacersociety.blogspot.com/2008/12/welcome-to-future_09.html
http://www.mueller-hp.com/ub.htm
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LWGcbKlwPjU/TC9EoHK-YsI/AAAAAAAAATY/m19YKJC-tAA/s1600/R1-+7A.jpg
http://members.localnet.com/~milliken/liner/liners.htm


dadavatar006lg3.jpg

http://www.dhbc.org.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=372
 
I wonder if that road bike fairing above makes it faster or slower. I bet there isn't much of a difference. Would be great for winter riding though.
 
veloman said:
I wonder if that road bike fairing above makes it faster or slower. I bet there isn't much of a difference. Would be great for winter riding though.
Click to expand...

There was a link at the bottom of the picture. He says:

Best known for being late and being dropped but not anymore with the batcycle
Click to expand...

Great links sk8norcal. I've never the seen the "batcycle" picture. I've seen the 51mph road bike before but never could find it again. Thanks. Mine is kind of like the zzipper thriller but won't go below the tire. My legs below the knees are narrow and look aero so I don't think that would do anything. Bike drag is like 20% and body 80% from what I've read.
 
Not done yet. Brain tired.
 
Ok. I guess your right. He must of been dreaming.
 
Here's a question about these front fairings. Should they ever end with an exposed edge like is typical with these bubble fairings? It's seems to me that the gentle curve should go all the way to parallel with the line of the bike, and then the last couple of inches should curve in another 90° or more at a moderate radius. I realize that's may be extremely difficult to fabricate, but I can't get past the idea that air passing a sharp edge is going to cause a lot of turbulence as the air separates from it going rearward when there is a low air pressure on the backside of that edge. Other than blocking a cold winter wind or rain, the goal of any fairing is to reduce turbulence, so if we could figure out a way to add a 2" radius curve instead of the sharp edge of the fairing would it be worth the effort? It would also add a lot to the rigidity of these types of farings.

If I have this wrong, hopefully one of the experts in aero will step in and explain.

John
 
:D Hey that look awesome it gonna look good on my new tadpole build, I won't get wet anymore when it rains
 
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Yeah, everytime you read a review about a fairing, they always talk about it being good in the cold weather as if that was the only positive of them spending $200-$500 dollars. I've only seen 2 fairing recumbent bikes on the road and both riders were not skinny. :)
 
from what I have read on the hpv mailing list in the 90's,
it seems like there wasn't any significant speed advantage with just the front fairing,
(It seems also that it works better for recumbents vs uprights)
some argue that a tail fairing is more effective..
u probably get better answers on the hpv forum.

now thinking back, my friend gave me an extra experimental zzipper,
which i attached it to the head tube using an aluminum seat post rack (rack removed), and pvc cross bar.
I even made a lycra body wrap..
that didn't work out too well.. :lol:
 
sk8norcal said:
from what I have read on the hpv mailing list in the 90's,
it seems like there wasn't any significant speed advantage with just the front fairing,
(It seems also that it works better for recumbents vs uprights)
some argue that a tail fairing is more effective..
u probably get better answers on the hpv forum.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the common misconception is that it's all the air you 'push in front' that slows you down - but the reality is that you displace the same amount of air with or without a fairing. What's really slowing you down is the turbulence (and resultant low pressure regions) behind you. A 'C' shape (heading to the left, i.e. with the round section leading) is actually one of the worst case scenarios, aerodynamically: a guaranteed low-pressure region behind it, with no possibility of making the flow 'stick' to the trailing side - the main reason front fairings are more-or-less neutral in practice is that the reduced wind pressure on the front of your body makes up for the huge drag produced by the fairing itself - but this does little to reduce the turbulence that is responsible for the overall drag.

To get a better understanding of the problem, watch some videos on youtube etc. describing simple cases like balls and cylinders, and what happens with separation at different speeds and turbulence conditions - wind tunnel videos with smoke are particularly informative
 
No videos for me. I'm on dial up. Its too late for that. And I'm almost done. I will test it myself and draw my own conclusions. Thats the best way. Otherwise I'd be sitting at a computer and not tinkering. Thats no fun. If it doesn't work, then I'll be just like everyone else and say "Its good in the winter." But, I will try to set a new land speed record in it. :twisted:
 
D-Man said:
No videos for me. I'm on dial up. Its too late for that. And I'm almost done. I will test it myself and draw my own conclusions. Thats the best way. Otherwise I'd be sitting at a computer and not tinkering. Thats no fun. If it doesn't work, then I'll be just like everyone else and say "Its good in the winter." But, I will try to set a new land speed record in it. :twisted:
Click to expand...

Go for it :D just don't be too disappointed if the effect isn't dramatic. Then tinker with tail-cones (which do have a pretty dramatic effect). The front bubble *will* improve performance significantly with a tail cone, as the air-flow will be cleaner. Of course, you won't really be kicking it without a full fairing, but front fairing + tailcone will get you some real results.
 
Nice bubbles :mrgreen:

I need to get a heat element or two for my setup and start forming plexi/acrylic...I've done some polystyrene but that is it so far.
 
Wish I could set something up to form the 1/2"+ thick lexan I have some sheets of. I could have a bulletproof (well, not really) fairing! :)
 
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